Helen Thomas, Racist

Well, we have some wonderful proof that very wise and well informed people can be filthy, contemptible antisemites, provided by, of all people, Helen Thomas.

In a recent interview, she expressed the following position:

"After being asked for her opinion of Israel, Thomas responded by saying: "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine."

Turning her attention to the Palestinians, she said, "Remember, these people are occupied. And it's their land," adding the Jews should "go home" to Poland and Germany."

I want to deal a little with the facts of her assertion, but just let us say straight out that this woman has revealed herself to be an unrepentant racist of the most disgusting kind.

Thomas, the daughter of Lebanese Immigrants, issued the following pathetic excuse in the way of an apology:

"I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heartfelt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon," she wrote."

Apparently, the day "when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance" will come when all Jews get out of the Middle East. I cannot discover that she has ever had similar things to say about Hamas, which officially calls not only for the elimination of the State of Israel, but the destruction of all Jews everywhere in the world.

This is a miserable excuse for an apology, but the most intense apology in the history of the world could never change the fact that Helen Thomas believes what she said. Perhaps this incident can bring people to face the fact that, just as we have been seeing with anti-black racism the last year or so, there is still a lot more antisemitism in the world than most people want to admit. And unfortunately for us lefties, much of this kind of thing can be found on the left as well as the right.

Now, as to the truth: Half of the Jewish population of Israel consists of Sephardic Jews whose families were expelled from Arab countries, commonly stripped of all property, after the establishment of the State of Israel. The number of these people is very close to the number of Palestinians who were forced out or left Israel after its establishment. Thomas' insinuation that all Jews were from Eastern Europe, and had no ancestral history in the Middle East is a classic racist position itself, and is very similar to the sort of claim made by the White supremacist doctrine of Christian Identity. And while we are on the subject, can you think of any other group of people who are not allowed to live in their ancestral homeland because of their religion? And I don't want some left wing racist smart ass to answer "Palestinians." Over a million Arabs live in Israel, with full rights of citizenship. And it is not Palestinians' religion, but their violent, revanchist political positions that keep so many of them trapped in the part of Egypt known as Gaza.

I think it is about time for me to repost some excerpts from the Hamas charter, just so I can make it clear who the race haters in the Middle East really are. I will do that in the next couple of days.

Update: Helen Thomas has retired. Good Riddance. I read a comment at TPM about people's inhibitions declining in old age, but that the views that are just revealed were there all along. That's just about right, in my opinion.